ProAc Studio 100 loudspeaker Review System

Sidebar 2: Review System

For several months, on and off, the ProAcs took over my listening room from the mighty NHT 3.3smy long-term reference speakers for over a year and a half now. Solid-state amplifiers included an Aragon 4004 Mk.II, an NAD Model 304 integrated, and an Exposure IV Dual-Regulated. I tried the ProAcs with two tube amps as well: my trusty, mostly stock Dynaco Stereo 70, and a 2Wthat's right, two watthomebrew, single-ended, direct-coupled amp featuring the 45 output triode, and which was designed by Wavelength Audio's Gordon Rankin and built by Sound Practices magazine's Joe Roberts (footnote 1).

Preamps included an Audible Illusions Modulus 3, my own buffered passive job, and an Exposure XVII. LPs were played on a Well Tempered Turntable fitted with a Naim ARO tonearm and Sumiko Transfiguration MC cartridge; CDs on a Theta Data Basic transport Linque'd to Theta's new Generation V processor. I played eight-tracks on a Wollensak 8050A. Interconnects were Kimber KCAG or PBJ; speaker cables included bi-wired and single-run sets of Kimber's 4AG and 4TC, and Sumiko OCOS. Accessories included li'l blobs of Blu-Tack gummy mastic on the stand under each speaker corner, Power Wedge AC line-conditioners, and the collected works of Al Goldstein.Corey Greenberg

Footnote 1: Sound Practices"A Journal of Audio Technology"is a cool-man quarterly covering the hepcat triode/horn scene. Those interested in building Gordon Rankin's direct-coupled 2W SE triode amp as featured in this review can find the schematic in SP's Spring '94 issue, Vol.2 No.1.